Carlton Club
The Carlton building since 1940, formerly Arthur's club
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| Formation | 1832 |
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| Purpose | Club established for the Conservative Party |
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| Coordinates | 51°30′21″N 0°08′20″W / 51.50583°N 0.13889°W |
| Website | carltonclub |
The Carlton Club is a gentlemen's club in London which describes itself as the "oldest, and most important of all Conservative clubs." Membership of the club is by nomination and election only.
The club was founded in 1832, by Tory peers, MPs and gentlemen, as a place to coordinate party activity after the party's defeat over the First Reform Act. It later played a major role in the transformation of the Tory party into its modern form as the Conservative Party. The club lost its role as a central party office with the widening of the franchise after the Reform Act 1867, but remained the principal venue for key political discussions between Conservative ministers, MPs and party managers.
The club was formed at the Thatched House Tavern in 1832 and its first premises were in Carlton Terrace (provided by Lord Kensington), from which it drew its name. These premises were quickly found too small. The second club house was situated next to the Reform Club in Pall Mall, London, and was purpose-built in 1835. It was replaced by a third club house on the same site in 1856.
The Caen stone used on the façade of the third building proved unsuitable in the London atmosphere and had to be completely replaced in 1923–24.
The club is most famous for the Carlton Club meeting of 19 October 1922, in which backbench Conservative MPs decided to overthrow their leader Austen Chamberlain and withdraw from the David Lloyd George–led coalition government. MPs voted 187 to 87 in favour of discontinuing the coalition, after speeches from Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin, with Baldwin saying that the fact Lloyd George was a 'dynamic force' was a danger to the stability of the Conservative party.
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